Gordon Clark ’19 gathers at the KEC with friends to learn about sustainable food habits and to prepare dishes.
On Saturday, September 30, the Kohler Environmental Center (KEC) Sustainable Food Project held an exciting, educational event for the Choate community, promoting the project’s core goals and values. As it is harvest season, students were invited to participate in cooking and baking opportunities using freshly picked produce from the KEC. For example, students roasted pumpkins and were able to sample baked goods made with the produce while learning about the purpose and functions of the KEC Sustainable Food Project.
While this occasion did give students a sweet taste of the food project, it only represented a small portion of the project’s purpose. The program has been running for approximately five years, and it has been helping the Choate community give back to the environment since the start. Mr. Joe Scanio, Director of the KEC and a leader of the KEC Sustainable Food Project said, “The Sustainable Food Project was a way of looking at food from a whole different perspective.” The project has been a real game-changer for Choate and, like its gardens, continues to grow and prosper.
Since its introduction in 2012, the KEC has been composting leftover food from the dining hall, planting high-yielding gardens, and educating younger children about the environment. The KEC Sustainable Food Project composts about 80 pounds a day on average. However, the 80 pounds of compost from the KEC is a mere fraction of the total food stream from the dining hall, which goes to a commercial composting facility.
As time goes on, the KEC Sustainable Food Project continues to have short and long-term goals. Ms. Nicolai said, “The long-term vision for it is that it be a form of agriculture that is both permanent culture and agriculture.” She continued, “Then there are all the short-term things, which are the annual crops.”
The program keeps surmounting their goals and, as a result, setting new vigorous ones. They now have apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, in addition to grapes, raspberries, blueberries, and more. All of the plants are grown organically. As goals are met, the KEC Sustainable Food Project is planting more seeds, always expanding their harvest. According to Ms. Nicolai, “We harvested 68 pumpkins of different shapes and sizes this year and 37 acorn and butternut squash. We processed over half of the pumpkins on that Saturday night and the resulting puree will be used to make pies, breads and cookies. Some of the bread and muffins that we make will be shared with the Wallingford Shelter for meals during the holidays.”
The program has also made connections outside of the Choate community. They are firm believers in the importance of educating people of all ages and backgrounds about saving the environment. “We run five different children’s programs for students in pre-K to second grade. Children get to use the garden to plant herbs, and they have an insect garden,” said Ms. Nicolai.
The Sustainable Food Project’s next objective is to start involving more of the Choate community. The event on September 30 was an opportunity for Choate students to help in the harvest. Although these sort of functions haven’t been happening frequently, the KEC Sustainable Food Project would like to continue to host more. “I’m hoping that that will continue as we get different kinds of produce out of the garden. I hope that folks from campus will be able to come up and forage,” Ms. Nicolai said of getting Choate students incorporated into the project. Mr. Scanio and Ms. Nicolai greatly encourage any student interested in the project’s duties to come to these events or simply take a trip to the KEC.
